The Screamer
by BIFF1
Summary: Teddy always felt like he was alone and no one knew how it felt to have your hero up and leave like you didn't mean a thing... and then there was Cathleen
1. History

AN: I'm like to show much appreciation towards the wonderful Aleka.  You should go read her Stand by Me fiction she is **much **better then I am. Personally I quite like 'Where did I go right' at the moment.  Anyway I'd like to thank her profusely for editing this.

Disclaimer:  I do not own the movie Stand By Me nor do I own the story it was based on (the Body) no copyright infringement is meant by this, if someone thinks so I must ask you can you walk and chew gum at the same time? 

Please read Review but most of all enjoy    

Winter was fast upon Castle Rock and with it feelings of sadness and cheer. Like all Christmas' both bad and good things come from them. It's a scientific fact that suicides go up near the Yuletide season.

A cold wind blew through a forgotten window and woke Cathleen from a nightmare tossed slumber. She was thankful as she got out of bed and entered the freezing cold of the house. It had been along time since there had been holiday cheer in this seemingly abandoned house. 

Cathleen pulled on a thick skirt of black and matching sweater, leaving her freezing bedroom. It was always cold in her room because it numbed her and she was her happiest numb. The hallway past the other bedrooms and rooms was cool as well. The stairs held an icy aspect to them but the closer to the kitchen she got the warmer it was, until the temperature reached a sweltering height in the kitchen where her mother was slumped sleeping over the counter, with an empty vodka bottle by her hand. 

This always happened near Christmas when her mother would remember all the happy times and realized her father would never be apart of those memories again.

Cathleen took the bottle and tossed it into the garbage can and started to clean up the mess her drunk, crying mother had made the night before. 

After a lot of practice she had cleaned up in no time and was on her way out the door when she realized she'd forgotten to say goodbye to her father.

She opened a heavy wooden door to her father's den there on the fireplace mantel was a picture of her father smiling lightly in his greens. Metals pinned to his breast. His Victoria Cross and Purple Heart in frames. They should have been on him but they don't put war metals on a dead body.

"Bye Dad." Her voice was meek and thick with the urge to cry but she pushed it back and closed the door. If she cried she'd wake up her mother and if she woke up she'd cry and drink and be depressed again. Pulling her backpack up her back she left the cold empty house.

Teddy Duchamp sat at the back of his one and only academic course. History. He was there for the war parts, only it was obvious to the rest of the class and the teacher because he sat at the back of the class and slept through all the non-war parts.

They were doing the Korean War now, starting today. 

The rest of the class filed in, the boys about three minutes before the girls. That always happened when classes were talking about war. The boys found it much more interesting. 

Mr. Belling had started to take role call already when the door opened again and Cathleen Jackson entered the class, taking the only empty seat left next to Teddy.

"And why are we late, Ms. Jackson?"

"I was busy." She narrowed her dark eyes at him, challenging him to say otherwise. Cathleen was a nice girl--someone Teddy didn't even look at. She was decently pretty but didn't look after herself, and was always quiet. But when she said something, it was always worth the effort to listen. She sunk in her desk with her notebook open and pen in hand ready to start.

Mr. Belling started the class about Korea, which kept Teddy rivetedly leaning forward in his seat, completely forgetting about Cathleen beside him.

"Does anyone know how many soldiers died at the end of Korea? Anyone?"

Surprising everyone, Teddy's hand shot into the air and waved around.

"Yes, Mr. Duchamp…" 

"29,557 service members died in battle, 4184 died of non-combat causes in the Korean theatre, and 7,240 became prisoners of war…"

" 7 245," Cathleen corrected quietly to herself.

"7 245, sorry," Teddy corrected himself for the class, seeming as no one but him heard Cathleen.

"Very good, Theodore."

Teddy looked across to Cathleen to say something along the lines of that he didn't need her help, when he saw her crying silently as she drew in her notebook. Had she been crying before? _No, not until they had started talking about casualties_, he thought.

Belling had started up again but hadn't gotten very far when a cheerleader somewhere in front of Teddy had asked an appalling question that made him want to punch her.

"Why?"

"Why what, Jackie?"

"Why go to war? It's stupid."

Cathleen made an indignant sound from beside him and looked up at Belling expectantly, but Belling said nothing. Cathleen stood up to answer it herself.

"War isn't stupid--it's necessary," she yelled angrily at the stupid cheerleader.

"Why would anyone want to go to war?" she asked, Mr. Belling ignoring Cathleen entirely even though the rest of the class was staring at her. 

"No one wants to go to war! They do it to protect those they love, they do it because they have to."

"Well they're stupid," Jackie told Cathleen.

Teddy was shocked at what happened to Cathleen as she heard those words. _"Stupid!_" she yelled. "It's not stupidity; that's bravery! Do you know what war is like, Ms. Marquette?"

"Sure, I've seen war movies. My stupid father watched them."

"_Movie!_ Your comparing actual war to a _fucking movie!_" Cathleen snapped, "War is real, people go to protect those they love from evil! People die so that we can live the way we want and you say they're stupid." She'd left her seat by now and was marching up the aisle towards Jackie.

"What do you know about war anyway? I bet your father didn't even go," Jackie said flatly.

Cathleen's tears were now visible to everyone else but she didn't let that stop her from smashing Jackie in the face. "_Don't you say that, don't you ever say that!_" Cathleen screamed and ran out of the classroom.

The bell rang to end class. Teddy got up and was about to leave the now empty classroom when he turned back and saw Cathleen's notebook sitting looking surprisingly lonely on a desk. 


	2. Notebook

A/N Hello!!! 

First and foremost I would like to thank Aleka for her wonderful editing.  I'm so terrible at grammar and such that it's scary.  Also I would like to thank her for encouraging me to post this.  

Also I want to thank my reviewers.  The Good Girl – I hope this doesn't become clichéd I'll try.  The Sophinator – thank you very much and the notebook appreciates your compliment.  Demon of Starlight – thank you so very much.  Jenny – I'll try to update as often as I can.  Finally Ren85 – my first reviewer I can't tell you how much you made me happy thank you so much. 

Disclaimer: no copyright infringement intended.  I have no money do no sue.  

Thank you  **_please _**enjoy the story  

Notebook

On a whim Teddy picked up the notebook and closed it with out looking and walked out of the classroom holding it loosely in his hand. The halls of Castle Rock High seemed greyscale to him as always, and the people blobs of shadow there but somehow not registering as single people but part of a mass.

A mass of nothingness--that's what it felt like for Teddy anyway. 

_Did you hear?!_

_What?_

_That Cathleen girl punched out the head cheerleader!_

_No shit?_

_No! I heard from Terry whose best friends with Sam who's in the class._

_When!?_

_Just now!_

Copies of that conversation filled his head as he walked towards shop. He arrived late as usual. His history class was at the other side of the school and let's just say he didn't run to his next class.

"Duchamp!" The heavily accented voice of Mr. McDonald yelled over the sound of wielding," Why are you late?"

"I was busy fucking your wife," he told him with a strong smirk.

All around him a slight 'oooooo' sounded from the other boys in the class.

"_Duchamp_!" Mr. McDonald glared at Teddy telling him silently to sit the fuck down, which he did without any of the usual struggle. 

"What's up, Teddy?" the strangely innocent voice of one Vern Tessio asked from beside him, but it barely registered in his head. Teddy could only hear one voice, Cathleen. Somewhere deep in his head it bonded with another more painful memory.

It was rain slightly, not the hard rain you think of when you see the word, more of a drizzle. Despite the lack of force the rain blanketed over everything Teddy could see giving an unreal sheen to the screen unfolding in front of him. The grass, the fence, the police car, the policemen, and even his father were slick and unreal. The sky was grey but instead of making the colors brighter all was in simple greyscale. A look that would stay with him for years. 

"Dad!" Teddy called out with strangled voice, most of his energy lost in the effort to keep threatening tears away from the public.

Teddy's father looked back slightly but he did nothing else.

His father got into the squad car his face showing nothing, something Teddy had never mastered. His glazed green-blue eyes looked at Teddy for a moment before closing and the car door slammed shut echoing in what seemed like a stretching silence.

Teddy's father was gone. His Hero no more.

"Teddy?" Vern again, but this time his voice was accompanied by a slight nudge. Looking at Vern, he saw a look that mad him feel sad for a moment. Vern was looking at Teddy with light blue eyes full of concern.

"I'm fine, Stupid, I just need a smoke," he causally lied. Vern looked at him knowing he was lying and shook his head, going back to whatever he was doing. Teddy had no idea what Vern was doing, he had no idea what anyone was doing. 

Looking at his desk he saw Cathleen's notebook…

He had to give that back to her…

Lunch…

Lunch did not come quickly enough for Teddy; he couldn't do anything but stare at the notebook. But thankfully the bell rang and everyone filed out of shop.

Before he could fully leave the doorway though, a hand clasped around his upper arm and pulled him back in where he was forcibly pushed into a chair.

"Theodore…"

"Aww, come on, McDonald, don't--"

"Remember, Teddy, I'm an authority figure."

"I try not to." He pushed a hand threw his thick dirty blonde hair and leaned back in the stiff wood chair. McDonald was tall, and if the artificial lights hit his red hair a certain way, it looked like his head was on fire. He had kind understanding brown eyes. He would joke around with Teddy and the others but strangely they always got the projects done. Teddy liked McDonald. That shop teacher was really the only one in Castle Rock that he liked other then Gordie, Vern and Chris.

"Why?"

"Because that way I won't remember I'm not supposed to like you."

McDonald smiled lopsidedly at the teenager in front of him, "I'm glad you don't hate me, Teddy. But is there--" He sat down in the chair behind the desk the only piece of store bought furniture in the room. 

"No, McDonald, I'm fine. I don't need to talk." Teddy got up and dusted his jeans off and headed back out of the room.

The hall was once more the greyscale Teddy had become used to, straightening his glasses he entered the cafeteria.

The Cafeteria smelled of industrial cleaning products and mystery meat. Everyone preferred the smell of the cleaning products. With a quick look around the large, sparse room, he found Vern waving at him with a couple of their friends from the lower grades, and of course Gordie and Chambers--the lovebirds, as he called them.

They were always together doing something even though it seemed to go against everything that was normal in the universe. However his thickly guarded green-blue eyes left them and fell upon a seen much less inviting. 

There in her own little corner of the room was Cathleen looking sad, depressed and lonely. She wouldn't be lonely for long, he noticed. The cheerleaders were about to make their move on her. Revenging their fallen leader. Quickly judging the distance he noticed if he walked quickly he could get there before they could and possibly offer the dark girl some protection from the circling vultures.

"Where's Teddy going?" Chris Chambers nudged Vern in the side. Vern's light blue eyes followed him and he couldn't help but smirk.

"Hey Jackson!" A light and airy voice turned demonic, causing Cathleen to look up from the swirling brown liquid that was her cola.

"What do you want, Elizabeth?" Cathleen's voice was dark and held no rasp, as one would think, had they seen the girl first period. She seemed to be used to crying though, for the fact that she had just started all of a sudden did not frighten her.

"It's time to pay."

"I already paid more then I wanted to." Cathleen stood up to the taller girl. Elizabeth stood a couple inches taller then her and with a dignified stance she headed the pack of wolves behind her. Cathleen was glared at with wolf like brown eyes. 

"What the hell are you talking about, Jackson?" Her eyes were hard and uncomprehending.

Cathleen just shook her head and turned away from the group thirsting for her blood. "Take the first shot Elizabeth. I know you want to." Cathleen turned back around, her dark eyes hard and her face vacant.

Elizabeth just smirked and wound up for the punch. All Teddy could do was stare at the scene. Elizabeth's punch landed hard in the stomach. The sound of air leaving a body was magnified by the room's stunned silence. That was all the reaction they got from Cathleen because she easily and quietly shook it off. 

WHAM

Elizabeth was on the ground gasping for breath, while Cathleen looked down at her, a figure of death, shrouded in black.

"What's going on here?!" Principal Park's gruff voice echoed through the room. The students seemed to part for him like the Red Sea for Moses. "Ms. Jackson! Follow me please!" Not really caring, she followed the short man down the hall and out of sight.

That's when the gossip began.

Cathleen sat in an itchy green chair in front of the principle.

"I should call your mother…"

"No, don't!" Cathleen jumped out of the seat, but not because she was afraid of punishment from her mother but more she was afraid the town would find out about her. In a small town like this gossip was everything, and nothing was kept secret for long, but Cathleen only had two months left before she'd become an adult and they wouldn't be able to take her away.

"It's either that or Saturday detention young lady."

Looking down at her red--the only colour she owned--Keds, she nodded, "Saturday…" she mumbled submissively.

"You'll have to tell her anyway, Ms. Jackson. I hope you realize this." 

No, she wouldn't. Her mother would be going out to a social event this evening to keep up appearances then she would come home and drink her self into a stupor. "Yes, sir."

"You may go now." 

"Yes, sir."

Teddy looked around him as if trying to figure out what happened. Vern was waving him over to there table again and this time Teddy could do nothing but go.

"They'll give her Saturday detention." Gordie started conversationally.

"What's that?" Lane Campbell, a sophomore asked over his ham and cheese sandwich.

Teddy put the notebook on the table and looked at it. It seemed to look even more depressed then before. _How can a notebook look like anything?_ Teddy wondered sighing.

He had to give that back to her…

Saturday…

He was going to get Saturday detention on purpose for the first time in his life.


End file.
